Starring Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez, the film is adapted from Flashfire, the 19th Parker novel written by Donald Westlake under the pen name Richard Stark.

Primarily set in Palm Beach, Florida, Parker marked a departure for Hackford, who hoped to make it his first film noir.

[5] Parker is a professional thief who is asked by his mentor Hurley to take charge of a job with a crew he does not know, consisting of Melander, Carlson, Ross, and Hardwicke.

They succeed in robbing the Ohio State Fair, but Hardwicke alters part of Parker's plan, resulting in an unnecessary death.

Needing his share of the Ohio loot to finance the bigger job anyway, Melander tells Hardwicke to kill Parker and they leave him on the side of the road.

After escaping from the hospital, Hurley directs Parker to New Orleans, where Hardwicke's brother tells him the crew are in Palm Beach, Florida.

Parker goes to Palm Beach and masquerades as a rich Texas oil baron named Daniel Parmitt looking for an expensive house.

Real estate agent Leslie Rodgers shows him a supposedly vacant home recently purchased by someone named Rodrigo, which piques his interest.

He subsequently kills Danzinger in Chicago, mails Leslie her cut a year and a half later and sends money to the farmers who saved him.

[7] Alexander hired a friend of his named John McLaughlin to write the screenplay for Parker, and then director Taylor Hackford became involved.

[13] On June 21, 2011, it was revealed that Lopez was in talks to play "the female lead, a character named Leslie, who gets involved with Parker as he executes a heist".

However, Hackford cast Lopez in the role and decided to re-write her as Cuban, hiring Italian-American LuPone to play her "domineering" mother.

[7] Variety noted that locals were also "shook up" by helicopters, firetrucks and marine patrol boats, "bringing big-time filmmaking to an area better known for leisure-time activities.

[12] Cinematographer J. Michael Muro shot the film with Red Epic digital cameras and Hawk V-Lite anamorphic lenses.

[35] Joblo's Paul Shirley said "It's got a lot of the usual Statham action goodies", but with "source material and stellar cast" it has potential to be a theatrical hit.

[36] Simon Reynolds of Digital Spy noted the pairing of "tough guy" Statham and "global superstar" Lopez to be "unlikely" but said Parker promises to "serve up some meaty action thrills".

[1][45][46] The studio required critics attending press screenings to sign an agreement that none of their reviews would appear in print before the film opened.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Jason Statham is game as usual, but Parker is a thoroughly generic and convoluted heist movie.

[50] John Semley of Slant Magazine was not receptive to Parker, panning its "painfully slapdash script",[51] although the Miami Herald's Connie Ogle felt that while it was a "stretch" with "absurdities", Statham "turns out to be a good choice to play the taciturn thief.

"[52] Christy Lemire, film critic for the Associated Press, felt that Statham is "not exactly pushing himself outside his comfort zone", and Lopez is "here to provide some comic relief as the wide-eyed fish out of water.

[55] Variety's Brian Lowry praised Hackford for fashioning the "50-year-old franchise into a neat-fitting outfit for Statham" which was "crisp and efficient", noting its use of Lopez to "good effect.

Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter said the film's "biggest surprise" is Lopez's performance, in which she "downplays her glamorous image to give a refreshingly low-key portrayal of a put-upon, financially strapped working woman who manages to be useful to Parker when he least expects it."

"[57] Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times positively reviewed the film, calling it a "faithful adaption" of Flashfire,[58] although film reviewer James Berardinelli was displeased with the lack of character development for Leslie, criticizing the heavy amount of screen-time dedicated to Parker's girlfriend Claire (Emma Booth).

Nonetheless, Berardinelli gave Parker a generally positive review, summarizing its action scenes as "crisply directed, brutal, and invigorating.